Since I was a young girl, I wanted to be a Jewess. In reading reading Sir Walter Scott's description of 'Rebecca' in his "Ivanhoe," I was struck by this raven beauty. As an impressionable youngster, I found this Jewess to be beautiful, loyal, faithful, and modest. She and I seemed to share a name only. I desired to live up to her model of being a Jewess. If only I could bring such honour to my people...
Now these many years later, I have found my own way of being a Jewess and bringing honour to the community. I am not a raven beauty. Nor has my loyalty or fidelity ever been tested. But as a wife, mother, rabbi, daughter, sister, and friend, I embody my own definition of Jewess-ness.
Since I was a young girl, I wanted to be a Jewess. In reading reading Sir Walter Scott's description of 'Rebecca' in his "Ivanhoe," I was struck by this raven beauty. As an impressionable youngster, I found this Jewess to be beautiful, loyal, faithful, and modest. She and I seemed to share a name only. I desired to live up to her model of being a Jewess. If only I could bring such honour to my people...
Now these many years later, I have found my own way of being a Jewess and bringing honour to the community. I am not a raven beauty. Nor has my loyalty or fidelity ever been tested. But as a wife, mother, rabbi, daughter, sister, and friend, I embody my own definition of Jewess-ness.
R-o-a-r!